Page 45 of Kill Me Sweetly

“It’s who JJ is.”

“I know, but I worry. I don’t know how this will turn out, Mason, but I do know that if handing Four over or him dying means JJ and all of you live, I won’t hesitate.”

Mason squeezed my arm. “I get it. We all know what’s at stake here. Just do yourself a favor, and don’t repeat that to JJ. He won’t agree, no matter how much in his heart he understands what you’re saying. He doesn’t quit on people he cares about, and he will risk his life for them. Look at what he did for me.”

Mason was referring to our time in hiding. Him, JJ, Heather, and Andrew had been in the safe house and were found. Me and my brothers weren’t there, and Mason had almost died when the house was overrun. He’d ordered JJ to get the kids out of there. JJ had, but then he’d gone back for Mason. It was who he was and one of the reasons I loved him.

“I think that’s what I’m afraid of. I can’t lose him to a stranger.”

“Four might be a stranger to you, maybe to all of us, but JJ doesn’t see him that way.” Mason got a distant look in his eyes. “What that boy has been through, I don’t think any of us can fathom. I wasn’t held nearly as long as he was, and I’m still awoken by nightmares. My skin sometimes doesn’t feel like my own, and there are days I just don’t feel like I can get clean.”

We were silent for a few minutes as we filled the dishwasher. I took in everything he said and understood completely how JJ was seeing this. He was already attached to Four, and it wouldn’t be a choice of Four or all of us, it would be me, JJ, and Fouragainst the others. My vicious viper wasn’t going to abandon that boy.

And I would never abandon JJ.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

JJ

No sooner hadShep closed our bedroom door than I rounded on him. “I’m no wilting flower, Shepard Saint!”

His eyes widened. “I know.”

“So don’t say things like you did down there about Mason and me not going because it’s a little dangerous. It was always dangerous—maybe more so before we had this information because we were going in blind…still kind of is. But Mason and I will decide if we can’t do something.”

“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Shep dropped his head forward. “I worry about you.”

I took a step forward and lifted Shep’s head up until he was looking at me. “You’re not a superhero, you know. None of you guys are. A bullet kills you as easily as it does me.”

“I’d like no bullets coming near either of us, JJ.”

My anger washed away, replaced by worry and love. “I agree.”

Shep wrapped his arms around me and squeezed me close. Resting my ear on his chest, I listened as his heartbeat calmed.

“Did we bite off more than we can chew?”

I looked up into his gorgeous eyes and smiled. “We often do. But we wanted to help people, and we took on some serious higher-ups once. What makes you think we can’t do it again?”

“Babe, my brothers and me took them on over the course of years. We planned, we were careful.”

I stepped away and sighed. “Yeah, and then Mason entered the picture, and you all were scrambling. If I remember correctly, you all sought asylum in his apartment for a time.”

He rolled his eyes. “But we were in the thick of it already. We had names.”

“Not all of them, and you needed help from the now-mayor there, to clear you all.”

Shep scratched his beard and moved to his dresser, pulling out boxers. “Exactly, JJ. We don’t have political help on this one. For all we know, this consortium does.”

“And the bad guys had their own politicians in their pocket, but in the end we tore them apart.”

He removed his shirt and tossed it into the hamper by the bathroom door. “I’m not saying we should give up. It would surely kill Four, but, JJ, if I have to choose between you two…” He lifted his brows, and I knew what he wasn’t saying.

“I get it.” I stepped up to him and ran my fingers along his delicious abs. “How about we take a shower together and tumble into bed?”

He released a breathy laugh. “Sounds like a perfect plan.”

As soon as we were under the hot spray, Shep wrapped me in his arms once again and kissed me until my lungs burned. Each stroke of his tongue was like a rush of love being pushed from him to me. The desperate way he devoured my neck as he nibbled every inch was full of hunger and need.

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